


let's be happy

by tonyang (kurusui)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Friendship, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 16:05:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9499433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurusui/pseuds/tonyang
Summary: in which Junhui is there for Minghao, Wonwoo is there with Junhui, and Jisoo is there for Junhui.





	

**Author's Note:**

> -disclaimer i'm still not fully familiar with both svt's living situation and their dynamics, so please forgive inaccuracy!  
> -while i drew inspiration from post its and such, some things i totally made up, none of the situations are direct references of real life.  
> -it's all platonic but no one actually uses the & tags to find fic right?

There's a shouting match in the dorms, and Junhui's head hurts. His hand reaches for his phone on the charger, which reads minutes before his alarm was supposed to go off.

"You win," he says, groaning and pushing the blankets off his body.

Junhui opens the kitchen door, ready to judge. "It's too early for this, you guys."

"He wanted to fight, I was just leaving," Mingyu scoffs when he sees someone's arrived, removing the rubber gloves he was using and washing his hands.

Minghao rolls his eyes. "Whatever you say," he says airily, making a point to scrape the rest of the food out of his bowl loudly and dropping the ceramic in the empty metal sink. "For you, housewife."

Mingyu scowls.

The ensuing tirade is something he's heard thousands of times before, though usually in a much less biting tone. Junhui tunes it out, leans against the doorway patiently.

Minghao's face is guilty when the pair finally shuts up and he leaves the kitchen to go change, but Junhui only looks on with concern.

  


Minghao has a sour look on his face as they start to walk through the streets, and Junhui mulls over the option of confronting him directly but shakes his head and decides to forget.

Minghao cuts suddenly into their conversation about calling home and startles him. "I was gonna ask Mingyu if he wanted to come because he was up but that idea got shot and died," he says sullenly.

Junhui grimaces, preparing himself for a rant, but Minghao switches topics in seconds, mind going in a million directions. He won't dwell on that around Junhui, he notices, and Minghao really doesn't. He discusses their lunch plans and looks up the cast for the film they're about to watch on his phone and almost runs into the street on a don't walk sign. Junhui grabs him by the arms, holding him back.

"This is a big road," he scolds, his grin betraying his informality, pulling Minghao around to face him.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes sheepishly with his big eyes opened wide. It makes Minghao look younger than his years, and that makes Junhui feel more protective than he knows he ought to be. "Thanks."

Junhui hits him gently on the back, trying to lighten the mood. "You're fine," he says cheerfully. It dawns on him he's not the best role model or whatever he's supposed to be for the kids younger than him, but he never knows what he's supposed to be doing. He's just trying his best.

Minghao hugs Junhui's left arm tightly and clings to it for the rest of the walk to the theater.

  


It's not a bad film, which is a blessing. They've seen a fair share of bad flicks on their Saturday excursions, and Jun hopes this made Minghao feel good enough to make up and apologize for whatever happened that morning.

"I liked it lots," Minghao says happily as they exit the building. "But," he continues, as if reading Junhui's thoughts, "you know I like all the times we go out together even if the movie sucks."

"I know, and so do I," he says back with affection.

"I was kinda distracted today though," Minghao says, and Junhui swallows. His emotions are written on his face, which is a mistake, because Minghao starts frowning in a mirror response.

"I don't know how to make you feel better, and I should, and I feel bad," Junhui admits.

"I'll be fine," Minghao says lightly. "You being here with me, that's enough for me."

  


The fight was totally petty, Seokmin says later, peeling fruit at the speed of light. "Some crap about Mingyu's cooking being undesirable and Myungho being lazy and other things we all know aren't true, but nothing new for them, obviously." Seokmin has settled himself on the floor while Junhui lies on the couch, turned towards the television. Neither of them know the name of the drama airing, but it's fun to try and figure out if it's well produced or something they'll just end up making fun of.

"They don't usually _fight_ though," Junhui says curiously. He steals slices of clementines and pops them in his mouth, nodding his thanks.

"I was going to pick off the white parts," Seokmin says, watching Junhui rather than reprimanding him.

"I don't care," he answers, eating the last of a half clementine, but scooping up the mess of rinds on the floor and carefully dropping them in the nearest wastebasket. "Back to our resident children? You know the yelling woke Hansol up. It was like, 8 this morning, they gave half our group a headache."

"Let them have it out once in a while," Seokmin says, wiping the floor with a paper towel.

"Of all people I really didn't think you'd be the one to say that," Junhui says with a short laugh, back on the couch. "I guess you're used to it."

"It's not like I condone senseless yelling," he says pensively, considering his words. "They always come out of real arguments closer."

Junhui takes a deep breath, processing it. It makes a lot of sense, and Seokmin can tell Jun agrees by his silence. He shifts his own attention to the drama, catching a funny line and letting out a hearty laugh.

  


The shouting match continues when Junhui returns from a trip to the bakery with Seungcheol, but it's evolved for the better.

He walks into the living room with a bag of breads as Mingyu and Minghao lean over Jihoon's shoulder, intently staring at a game of Overwatch. The younger boys are both clueless about it but yell encouragingly while Jihoon types and clicks away on his laptop.

"Get me a snack," Jihoon asks when he's finished a round and his audience cheers.

"I'll go," Minghao says, and Junhui can tell Mingyu wants to protest but he's cut off with something about Mingyu actually wanting to learn the game, and Jun's own heart relaxes again.

Junhui's delighted expression catches his eye as he moves towards the pantry, and Minghao's face breaks into an equally bright smile.

  


☄

  


Junhui just wants to make Wonwoo laugh.

  


They are both quiet, receding in the background of the videos when they're thirteen.

"It's hard," Wonwoo admits to him elsewhere, unusually unprompted, "to find something to say in a crowd of voices already speaking on top of each other."

Junhui understands, but he doesn't. Jun is quiet because he doesn't have the words to speak naturally in this language.

He wants to be able to say more, but it's not that easy. Wonwoo should have it easier.

They stream as a group often, so he keeps thinking about this, unable to figure out how to make it less of a problem. Junhui amuses himself with the strings of his hoodie and makes cute gestures to the camera while Seungcheol gives a thank you speech. He'll have his time later, an over-rehearsed script he knows by heart in Chinese, but he nods and smiles and remembers that while the words are reiterated more often than probably necessary, he is here because of others.

Over there on his left, Wonwoo is in his own world, too. In this aspect they're the same. Junhui knows because he's leaning his head back to look at something on the ceiling and his hair is inches from Hansol's face. So it's predictable, really, when they connect and Hansol sputters because some's hit his tongue and Wonwoo apologizes so many times it's just funny.

  


Wonwoo's outstanding contribution in videos, Jun notes during monitoring, is his smile. Junhui doesn't think that he realizes this. Wonwoo doesn't think he's doing anything, a face reacting passively behind louder personalities like Chan and Seungkwan, but he is, and Junhui doesn't have to be a dedicated fangirl to see this.

He only has to pay attention. And that's not a decision he chose to do consciously either, so he wonders why the other members never mention this.

Junhui makes his own effort. He tries to be funny when he has the chance, and he laughs excitedly like a child. Soonyoung tells him it's cute, and he doubles over, trying to thank him for the compliment.

"Your laugh is really animated," Soonyoung explains. "You're always, see, just like this, all over the place, it's so cute."

"I'm glad someone acknowledges it," Jun says with a cheeky grin when he gains composure, and Soonyoung shakes his head and tells him to go away.

  


Schedules pile up and so do the practices behind the scenes. This means hours in the dance studio for a given broadcast. They're all tired really, and people are always surprised when they talk about watching dramas and playing games in their very little free time. All things said, right now there are excuses for not working on improving little things. Especially those that no one's been yelling at them to.

Wonwoo glances at Junhui briefly before pushing his way to the front of the group, seemingly to answer questions for the camera but instead just being weird, and _singing_. The boys explode with laughter. Wonwoo's singing, that's another good thing.

"I have confidence," Jun says, not too loudly, but Jihoon beside him picks up on it. As usual, the group rearranges themselves throughout the V live, and when Junhui finds himself near the front, he strikes up banter with Jeonghan and carries it and he really feels amazing.

  


Junhui catches Wonwoo in the living room on a late evening, potting a seedling by the open window. The outdoor air is warm, and the sky is faded oranges and yellows and soft lines. A lot of the boys have gone out to enjoy the weather and eat well.

"Our garden fairy," Junhui teases.

Wonwoo turns his head around to face the voice he recognizes, a quiet laugh escaping his mouth. "It's only one."

"You bought it at the market?"

"Couldn't resist," he answers, studying the plant. Junhui comes closer. "It's gonna be a beautiful flower. I forget the name, but in a few months you'll see."

The label rests on the soil covered newspaper behind him, and Jun doesn't say anything but lets Wonwoo go on and on about the variety he's seen and what he wants to buy to monitor his gardening.

"It'll die, I think, when we go on tour." It's abrupt and casual and honest.

"It won't," Jun says firmly, the embodiment of positivity. "You're gonna make sure it'll be okay with your fancy equipment and preparation and everything, cause you're just that talented with plants. There's a proverb about that, isn't there? Probably."

Wonwoo questions what Jun means but he's amused, and flattered. "I'm not really," he says modestly.

"You are," Junhui asserts, and Wonwoo laughs.

"I'm not!"

"You are!"

"You're just saying this to make me feel good," Wonwoo says disbelievingly.

"I'm not," Junhui answers, out of breath from the force of his rebuttals, and thinks, and doesn't say out loud how he's telling the truth but actually, he'd say anything if he knew this is how Wonwoo would react. Because if he voiced this it would be misleading and confusing. "Your plant loves you, believe in it!"

"Okay," Wonwoo concedes, pleased. "I believe in you, flower." He pats the bright green leaf.

Jun sweeps up the dirt that's landed on the floor, off the edges of the thin paper workspace.

"It's easy to talk to you," Wonwoo says, collecting the trash that's accumulated in the area. Jun looks up in surprise and other warm feelings. "Even if you're boring."

"Yah!" Jun retorts, but Wonwoo smiles again and he forgets what he was going to say.

  


Junhui realizes what he goes to great lengths to do isn't comparable to the natural humor of the others, but that's okay. Every rare smile he elicits from Wonwoo means he's made Wonwoo happy for a single moment in their long, tiring days, and that makes Junhui even happier.

 

☄

 

Jisoo is fun and games, brightness, and crinkling, happy eyes. To Junhui, he is someone to lean on, someone reliable.

He's not this.

Junhui nearly falls apart, looking at Jisoo's sad smile. It was an accident that he found Jisoo upset. There is tension between him and Jeonghan and Seungcheol and the air is always frigid between them these days and everyone can tell but no one does anything.

"I never want to see you like this," he says, a tear escaping his eye. It surprises him how much it hurts. He didn’t realize he'd be affected like this.

Jisoo narrows his eyes kindly, that soft, tired look Junhui's seen enough times to last his life, and places a firm hand on his strong shoulder. The touch lingers for a moment and leaves, Jisoo's fleeting desire to pour out his feelings silenced by his own footsteps away, his own shoes clacking against the cold waiting room floor.

Junhui stands alone, hand outstretched. He knows there's so much left unsaid, and he knows it was never going to be. Jisoo would never admit anything to him.

It's a burden that comes with age, and one Junhui's always thought was silly and very arbitrary, though he's never admitted that. Ironically this is because the only person he'd be able to express it in language to is one he has a responsibility not to trouble.

The weight on his shoulders is gone, but he wants it to be there.

Junhui runs out of the room, but Jisoo is lost in the crowd of staff and backstage equipment and it's far too much to deal with.

  


Jisoo has secrets Junhui doesn't know about, and that's okay. If his hyungs have conflict over something and won't say it's not his business. Or maybe it is. Maybe they're just all being stubborn and closed off and won't say anything because of pride. And at that point, Junhui realizes, he's the oldest and he just might have to be the adult here.

"I don't know," Junhui pants in the restroom, looking at himself in the mirror. He's worn out.

If he doesn't do anything he'll be stressed out anyway. “I need Jisoo hyung to be smiling again.” It’s the terrible feeling of knowing things aren’t normal.

He's tried talking to Soonyoung who wouldn't have it and he keeps telling himself it's not an issue. (We're a team, Seungcheol reiterated hours earlier, and Jeonghan and Jisoo nodded like nothing was wrong, even though none of them can act at all.)

"I can't, not do anything," he says.

  


They retreat to the dorms. Junhui waits for his chance and when Jisoo steps out for a walk he swallows his nerves. He asks to join as innocently as possible and Jisoo probably doesn't believe it, but he's placated enough by Junhui's demeanor to let them walk without hesitation. Jun observes. Plainly, he hears the strain in Jisoo's voice, evident even in their small talk.

"What did you fight over?" Junhui asks quickly, grasping his wrist. Jisoo shuts his eyes tightly and shakes his head.

"No," he says when Jun doesn't move.

"Hyung," Junhui pleads.

"It's not that bad," Jisoo says, "really, it wasn't anything. I just got emotional once, and you've jumped to conclusions." Junhui can see Jisoo avoiding his eyes and surely it's because he knows Jun can see right through this, but if Jisoo could only look at his face he'd know Junhui will break under the pressure.

"Please."

He does look, drawn by the wobble and weakness in Junhui's voice, and Jisoo surrenders, just a little bit.

"It's criticism and neglect and backtalk," he says, and he won't elaborate, and Jun can't pretend he knows how to interpret that right now but he can hold Jisoo close and cry.

  


In the end, Junhui knows it was selfish to ask Jisoo to pour out his heart, and he knows the way he tried to fix things was rash and driven by his own hurt. How bad it is that he's turned the burden on Jisoo he tried to lift into something he had to relieve from Junhui. It's a sign Jun's still not as mature.

"You were not useless," Jihoon whispers when Junhui crosses paths with him the next day.

"Thank you," he mouths, looking behind him. Jun confided in him last night and it was ridiculous, the extent to which he got emotional about this bubbling conflict he didn't know anything about.

All Junhui knew, really, because the three oldest were so good at keeping their mouths shut but not their faces smiling, was the pain and the fact that they weren't talking.

Jeonghan and Jisoo are talking.

  


Jisoo won't say anything at first, but weeks after the incidents, when things are better, he goes up to Junhui and just envelopes him in the warmest hug.

"I needed you and you were there," he declares.

"I needed you more," Junhui denies as he remembers the mess he was. Jisoo shakes his head of course, fiercely.

"I'm so sorry I even put you in that position."

Junhui doesn't want Jisoo to explain, he doesn't want Jisoo to apologize, he just wants him to be happy.

"Are you happy?" he asks quietly, holding back emotion.

"I've never been happier," Jisoo answers with a bright smile, the eyes Jun's longed to see.

Jun asks him to sing, and the reassuring feeling that comes from hearing Jisoo's voice is matchless.

**Author's Note:**

> -if it wasn't obvious, this is a comparison of jun's r/s with people of three different age status in relation to him
> 
> -the fact that i wrote 2/3 as fights jun was trying to fix i am so sorry like i rlyyyyy need to stop involving fights my goal here is realism
> 
> -prompted by some writing prompt generator at the beginning of a mywriteclub session less than half a day ago where i had no ideas, with something along the lines of "he wanted to fight i was just leaving". (which i guess foreshadowed the course of this.) i kinda wanted to write junhao or wonhui (with literally 0 basis of ideas besides meta) but that explains why gyuhao slipped in where i really didn't intend for it to be, lmao
> 
> -i've been working on so much gyuhao meta for my next project but i haven't even figured out the structure for that fic so idk when it'll be done. lol.
> 
> -for the wonhui section, thanks to bia for the meta!!!


End file.
